Steve Alford Quotations | Page 2

I woke up and I was upset. A lot of times I watch tape, and I pause it and see what's going on. That would have been a neat game to switch over and see what he's doing.

I think he was mad at me for the four minutes he sat. But he practices this hard. You should have seen Monday's practice; he was on the floor right away. A lot of other guys would have been hesitant with the injury that he had. But he was ready to play the Drake game. That's just who Jeff is.

I think he'll be okay. We can get him a lot of rest heading into the weekend. Hopefully he'll be okay.

I think guys are getting more confident. We're shooting the ball better, yet the defense has stayed pretty consistent. We always felt like we could go to another level as a team if our shooting would all of a sudden kick in.

Just having to learn to play with the brace, that's probably the most cumbersome thing. He's going to have to wear it until mid-February.

I'm sure Bob and I will sit down and have some talks soon. That's just something we haven't done yet.

That was the best he's cut all year and against a very tough defense, too. That was a complete effort out of Adam tonight.

That's what I appreciate the most about our guys. They've really got great resiliency and resolve about them. They know how to respond after a tough setback.

I wasn't impressed with many areas of our defense, which has been pretty solid all year. I don't think we defended very well.

My complete focus and efforts are on trying to help my team win a Big Ten championship. That's my only concern.

Why would I read it? I lived it.

We just weren't able to complete this game.

We were very fortunate to grind out a win. We got it the way we won a lot of games this year, with our defense.

We came in wanting to make something different happen, but obviously that didn't happen.

We had good leads in both halves and we couldn't complete either half. It came down to our inability to keep them off the off glass and the turnover-assist ratio.

We had good leads in both halves, and we couldn't complete either half.

We had to win this thing with our defense because offensively ... the shot would just not drop for us tonight. We made enough key free throws down the stretch and we had some really key stops. I'm just really happy to get away with a win tonight.

We've got a lot of upperclassmen, and they understand the importance of that end. Tonight was as good we've helped all year, and that's what good team defense does.

Tyler will have an immediate impact on our team next season. He is a very talented player, but also a great person, and that is something we always look for in recruiting.

We didn't execute a lot down the stretch as far as foul shots, and the more you miss the more tense you get. It was a combination of missed free throws and not getting stops down the stretch that allowed them to get as close as they did.

We didn't even talk about whether (Strickland) was going to be in or not be in. I think the guys did a good job of handling that, because we know we've been on the other end.

We have a very difficult bracket, but we're happy being a No. 3 seed.

We haven't been really pretty all year. When you guard like we've been able to guard, it's not too pretty.

We haven't played a box?and?one on any possession this year, and tonight we did it on three possessions.

We know regardless of who we play, it will be a difficult game.

You have notebooks, so every day he's going to say things you need to write down and study and learn. The practice sessions are a little different 'cause these are walk-ons trying out.

We're losing five really good seniors. They've been absolutely perfect leaders. They've left a lot for the returning players to work with.

When good players get going, they're hard to stop, and Jeff's a good player.

When good players get going, they are hard to stop, and Jeff is a good player. He got going and it was hard for them to stop him just like it was hard for us to stop Vincent.

We still control our own destiny. It's just that our margin of error is lessened. If we go 3?0, there are no ifs, ands or buts.

We beat a very good team tonight, and we did it by guarding. They guarded us well, too. These are two good defensive teams, for the third week of November.

We're at our best when we do things as a team defensively. They fully understand that if we're going to win, we're going to have to win it at that end.

We're down to the last two weeks. Three-and-0, you probably win it outright. Two-and-one, you get a chance to get a share of it. That's why it's going to be very exciting.

The pros may have figured out how to keep people from the floor, but they haven't figured out how to keep players from the stands. The student body is still the most important thing about the college game.

When Wilt played, there weren't a lot of guys his size. Now you've got guards that are 6-7 or 6-8. For (Bryant) to do that is a phenomenal feat.

We shot extremely well. You have to make shots. It's hard to win four games in four days when you have one or two bad shooting nights. And you have to prepare to play four games, not just one.

We're still writing the final chapter of this book.

With 46 wins in the last two seasons and six straight winning seasons, they have contributed to a lot of the successes we have enjoyed. In my long term commitment towards the future, I ... felt these moves were necessary for the continued progress of the program.

We've been right there on the final day for both championships.

We had absolutely no issues academically at all. Our five seniors are all on pace to graduate.

When you end up getting into the profession, you end up learning how important that end is. This is a group of guys who have gotten older and matured through the Big Ten. ... They understand the benefits that go into defending.

When you get to this point of the season, all wins are difficult. We were fortunate to grind out the win.

We've got to get home and practice that scenario a little more. I'm glad that A.J. didn't get his feet set, because they had a really good look.

But mostly, our focus will be about ourselves.

We've been ranked three times coming in here. But it's a lot different than years ago. This is a very good basketball team that's only going to get better.

We've been awfully good defensively all year, but this might have been our best 40-minute effort. We've been really good defensively in this building all year.

Transition and turnovers were key to this game. It really came down to our inability to keep them off the glass, and the turnover ratio.

We wanted to continue to wear on them.

We've got 12 home wins, the most of anyone in the league right now. It's starting to become a bit of a tougher place to play.

Those things happen every year. This year is not going to be any different.

This team is having too much fun right now. We don't want this run to end Friday, we don't want it to end Sunday.

This was the game where we needed him to score. He took it on himself to do that. He led the team today.

This was a big game in a lot of ways. If we can get five wins against Top 25 teams, that's pretty special. You can't take that away, and it bodes well when we look at the postseason.

This was a big game in a lot of ways.

We just knew we needed about two minutes. We went with Alex and he was terrific in those two minutes.

To hold a team to 28 percent shooting, regardless of circumstance, is pretty impressive.

This year's been easy. This has been a fun team. And I don't think these guys are ready to be done just yet.

We just got dominated on the glass. I thought the center position was really in favor of them.

We might play him 5 or 6 minutes, then take him out. Yet Jeff might say that makes it tight, and it's better if he can keep it warm and go. We're putting our faith in him to let us know. . .

We try to take the financial aspects out of the injury,

We expected to see zone today - we hadn't seen zone in two weeks.

We are two minutes after the game. My whole focus and energy haven't changed. I put everything into this.

You go through a lot, whether it's two years or four years. When you look at their careers, it's really about how they did it. You never saw them down at practice. They showed up every day to get better.

This one ranks high. It's special. We've come so far as a team and as a group. I couldn't be happier.

We should have some pretty good information on them.

There have been no signs of problems with it.

There have been a lot of great teams who have played on this floor. None have gone undefeated.

We did a great job on the boards,

Both Alex and Carlton expressed their desire to explore other options. We wish them well and will provide assistance as they search for a better fit.

Bru has meant a lot to us in a lot of ways, not just on the floor. He's been a phenomenal student for us. He's ideal for what we like in all our players.

Everybody thought they'd be a very, very good team, but it's kind of hard to duplicate what they did a year ago. And yet, here they are going into conference play undefeated again.

Fans will see intense basketball and competitive games. It will be a great prelude to what will happen in the national tournament.

There was a lot of emotion for the seniors, but not just for them. Sometimes it's what your teammates do (on Senior Night), and I think we saw that.

There was a lot of drama going on in our house.

There's no question text-messaging recruits is very valuable. That's something that's changed. It's amazing how rules keep changing and it seems like the rules keep trying to keep up with technology, whether it be e-mails or text messaging, but that's one thing in the rules where we're allowed to stay in pretty good contact with people.

There's no question I don't think it's a very good thing when coaches or players get booed by the home crowd. That's never something that's positive.

There's obviously a work ethic that goes into it. (Brunner) is a very special big man who has played here.

I've been in it long enough - I can handle all that. We really are focused on what we're doing. This has been a tremendous ride. What this team has accomplished this year has been phenomenal.

It was the same scenario. The last 5 minutes, I just thought they were the tougher basketball team.

The second half, we just couldn't make a shot. And you've got to give credit to their defense. But you can't shoot 30 percent. We fouled too much the second half.

The staff really worked hard at trying to get (players) to forget about what happened Saturday. The seniors then did the rest.

Right now we've got seven really solid teams that have probably locked up NCAA bids. I think we've got a minimum of seven right now.

People who come for the dogs come here primarily to eat, drink and have a good time,

Our entire family watched it. I enjoyed it very much.

Northwestern hasn't helped us in a long, long time ... so I guess it'd be nice if they would help. You have a lot of interesting games. Every team is playing for something here in this last week.

Adding Tyler to that group not only adds to our 2006 class, but will also benefit our 2007 and 2008 classes as well.

Adam's starting to learn what it takes (on defense).

Some teams really try to execute and score, other teams just get the ball in. That will dictate whether we go man, or whether we go zone. If you can win the under-out or side-out game, by two, three, four or five points, that sometimes might be the difference in the game.

The bottom line is I never interviewed anywhere, and it should be a pretty good indicator of how happy I am and what I think we can (accomplish).

A win on the road is never easy in this league. We feel fortunate that we're sitting 3-4 (away from home in conference play) with one more game remaining on the road.

As in the past, search committees and interested officials from other programs with openings for a head basketball coach have initiated contact. I'm flattered with the interest and the recognition of the outstanding season we had this year. With that success, comes attention and speculation that I cannot control. I have not scheduled any interviews with any other institutions.

That's what's special about Jeff. He's not going to beat you because he's the strongest, fastest, quickest, highest jumper out there. He beats you because of his will to win. He absolutely loves to compete.

That's why we're the No. 1 league in the country. It's obvious. We respect everyone, and we have to play well. ... We're down to five games, but a lot can change. Teams near the top could be in the middle. Two weeks from now we might be talking about teams at the bottom no longer being at the bottom.

That's Jeff. That's his mentality and his mindset. He was mad at me for the four games he sat out. He's not going to change.

You've got two guys that have probably done more for Illinois basketball than anybody in the history of the program. That says a lot, because there have been some great players here.

You never like to lose a guy who's meant so much, not only to our program, but to athletics in general at our school.

This is not a make-or-break game, but it is a game that is very important to us. It would be nice to actually have some success (on the road) before we start the Big Ten on the road next week.

This is probably the most uptight I've been all season. Just because you wanted to win this game so bad.

This isn't the end of the season, but it's a bad defeat.

This gives us a chance to get some rest. It's been a long grind for us. So we want to take complete advantage of the break.